Adjustable rail corner assembly



Feb. 6. 1963' J. E. ASHWORTH ETAL 3,367,688

ADJUSTABLE RAIL CORNER ASSEMBLY 2 Sheets-Shet 1 Filed July 29, 1966 INVENTORS. JAMES E. ASHWORTH and BARTZ AUGUST L W gmwfiw Attorney 6, 1968 J. E. ASHWORTH ETAL 3,367,688

ADJUSTABLE RAIL CORNER ASSEMBLY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 29, 1966 l/VVEN T0175. JAMES E. ASHWOR TH and AUGUST L. BARTZ By Ma My Afrorney United States Patent H 3,367,688 ADJUSTABLE RAIL CORNER ASSEMBLY James E. Ashworth, Moraga, and August L. Bartz, Alamo, Calif., assignors to United States Steel Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Filed July 29, 1966, Ser. No. 568,874 6 Claims. (Cl. 287-54) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An assembly for rail fencing having a pair of open section rails arranged at an angle to one another; and a pair of pivotally connected arms secured to and aligned with said rails by means of outwardly extending lips.

This invention relates to a rail corner assembly and more particularly to such an assembly for use in fencing having open section rails and open corner posts. Those rail corner assemblies of which we have knowledge required bands, end cups, bolts, washers and nuts of various types and sizes for both top and brace rails. A special end cup must be provided for right and left hand fittings and special designs are often used when the connection is other than 90. In addition to requiring the stocking of a great number of parts the completed assembly does not present a pleasing appearance nor is it structurally efficient.

It is therefore an object of our invention to provide a rail corner assembly for open section rails which is simple in construction, pleasing in appearance, structurally efficient, and which requires only one fitting regardless of the angle between the rails.

This and other objects will be more apparent after referring to the following specification and attached drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view showing the corner assembly of our invention in a 90 corner;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the assembly for a 135 corner with parts broken away and shown in section;

FIGURE 3 is a view, similar to FIGURE 2, but showing a 45 corner;

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of the connector of our invention;

FIGURE 5 is a view taken on the line V-V of FIG- URE 4;

FIGURE 6 is a cut away plan view of the connector in a 90 corner; and

FIGURE 7 is a view taken on the line VII-VII of FIGURE 6.

Referring more particularly to FIGURE 1 of the drawings, reference numeral 2 indicates an open section corner post having inwardly extending flanges 4 and 6 with at least flange 6 having a vertical receptacle 8 formed therein. The post is preferably of the type disclosed in our co-pending application Serial No. 568,953, filed July 29, 1966 and entitled Fence System. An open section rail 10 has its end supported in receptacle 8 of the post 2 with a similar rail 12 having its end 13 abutting the side of the rail 10. Each rail is made of sheet steel bent to provide a horizontal top side 14, two vertical sides 15 and 16 with horizontal bottom sides 18 and 20 connected to 3,367,688 Patented Feb. 6, 1968 the bottom thereof, and upwardly extending vertical flanges 22 and 24 connected to bottom sides 18 and 20, respectively, so as to provide a continuous longitudinal slot 26. A connector 28 is inserted within slots 26 of rails 10 and 12. Connector 28 includes a pair of arms 30 and 32 pivotally connected by a pin 34. Arm 30 has a slot 36 at its outer end with a plurality of spaced apart upwardly extending lips 38 on each side of the slot 36. In like manner, arm 32 has a slot 40 and lips 42 as shown in FIGURE 4. In order that the rails 10 and 12 be at the same elevation arm 32 has an upwardly extending bend 44 therein so that the free end of the arm is in the same horizontal plane as the arm 30. Pin 34 has a small diameter portion 46 passing through arms 30 and 32, a larger diameter portion 48, which is substantially the same diameter as the width of the slot 26, a flat head 50, the underside of which is spaced from the top of the arm 30 a distance slightly greater than the height of flanges 22 and 24. The arms 30 and 32 are held in position on the pin 34 between the large diameter portion 48 and a bottom head 52.

The connector 28 is inserted in the rails 10 and 12 with the underside of head 50 resting on top of flanges 22 and 24 of rail 10 and with the lips 38 and 42 in the slots 26. The lips 38 and 42 are deformed outwardly against the flanges 22 and 24 as best shown in FIGURES 1 and 6 to positively lock connector 28 and rails 10' and 12 in position.

FIGURE 2 shows a mounting in which rails 10 and 12A are connected with an angle approximating 135 therebetween. In this arrangement one end of rail 12A is cut on a bias 13A so that the end of rail 12A will bear against the side of rail 10. FIGURE 3 shows a mounting in which rails 10 and 12B are connected with an angle approximating 45 therebetween with an end of rail 12B being cut on a bias 13B so that the end of rail 12B will bear against the side of rail 10. Thus, it will be seen that the same connector can be used in the: corner mounting regardless of the angle between the rails. When the ground slopes from the horizontal one or both of the arms 30 and 32 may be bent from the horizontal as shown in broken lines in FIGURE 5 to permit the rails 10 and 12 to slope accordingly.

In the assembly, head 50 of pin 34 retains the rail 12 in the same Vertical plane as rail 10. The dimpled or scalloped deformations in flanges 22 and 24 caused by deformation of lips 38 prevent horizontal movement of arm 32 along the bottom sides 18 and 20 of rail 10 due to resultant forces created by compression forces acting on rail 12 when positioned at an angle greater than While several embodiments of our invention have been shown and described, it will be apparent that other adaptations and modifications may be used without departing from the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. A rail corner assembly comprising a pair of open section rails arranged at an angle to one: another, each rail having a longitudinal slot therein and an inwardly extending flange on each side of said slot, and a connector received within and extending between said rails, said connector including a pairof longitudinally extending arms one located below and aligned with each of said rails,

3 and a pin pivotally connecting said arms, each of said arms havingspaced lips extending through said slots and bearing against said flanges to lock the rails together.

2. A rail corner assembly according to claim 1 in which said pin has a head thereon spaced from said arms and resting on said flanges.

3. A rail corner assembly according to claim 1 in which each open section rail has a top side, two vertical sides connected to the top side, and a horizontal side extending inwardly from the bottom of each vertical side, said inwardly extending flanges being connected to said bottom horizontal sides.

4. A rail corner mounting according to claim 3 in which said pin has a head thereon spaced from said arms with its underside resting on said flanges.

5. A rail corner assembly according to claim 4 in which each arm has a slot therein at its outer end with there being a plurality of upwardly extending spaced lips on each side of the slot, the lips on each side of the slot References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 993,304 5/1911 Kirby 287-98 X 2,540,169 2/1951 Kanaval 287-58 2,674,431 4/1954 Attwood 24873 X FOREIGN PATENTS 1,301,588 7/1962 France.

291,911 3/1964 Netherlands. 1,202,586 10/ 1965 Germany. 1,203,435 10/1965 Germany.

ROBERT SKUDY, Primary Examiner. 

